Senior Author: Andrei Rațiu

Article published in CERTITUDINEA Nr. 133

Immaculate floating angel but at the same time provocative demon but fabulous of Italian ballet, FABRIZIO COPPO was born in the city of Caserta in southern Italy, known for the Baroque Royal Palace, the symbol of the city.

His dream and the discovery of his passion for ballet beginning in the ’90s, on a cold, Neapolitan evening. His maternal grandmother came home excited and told him that she had two tickets to the Opera “Madame Butterfly” at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. Fabrizio was then only 9 years old and it was the first time he went to the theater. The loving grandmother urged him to dress very elegantly. He was excited and nervous at the same time.

“When the curtain opened, I was transported to a wonderful world where the line between reality and fiction shrank to nothing. At that exact moment I understood that this was my place and that my new home would be the theater… That’s how it was. One day I saw on the news some excerpts from „Romeo and Juliet” with Carla Facci and Rudolf Nureyev. I was literally overwhelmed by what I saw and definitely fell in love with ballet. After more than twenty years, I can say that I have achieved much more than what seemed like an unattainable dream”.

The current Grand Master of the International Ballet, Fabrizio Coppo, began his studies in Caserta until he auditioned for the Rome Academy in 2000, where he studied for two years. Later, he moved to Milan and continued his academic career at the Ballet School of La Scala Theater in Milan, graduating in 2005. His main teachers were Irkin Sultanov, Leonid Nikonov and Rafael Darder.

The Teatro alla Scala (often just La Scala) in Milan is one of the most famous opera and ballet theaters in the world and for the past 200 years all the great artists have appeared on this stage. It was designed by the neoclassical architect Giuseppe Piermarini, being inaugurated on August 3, 1778 under the auspices of Empress Maria Teresa, by presenting the work “Europa riconosciuta” by the composer Antonio Salieri. Initially the theater was known as NUEVO REGIO DUCALE TEATRO alla Scala. The theater was built on the site of the former church of Santa Maria della Scala, where the name of the theater comes from.

AIDA by Giuseppe Verdi directed by Franco Zeffirelli at Teatro La Scala in Milan 2006

Excellence from passion

For Fabrizio Coppo the meetings were many; from the age of sixteen he had the opportunity to go through important stages and work with great artists of the caliber of Roberto Bolle, Svetlana Zakharova, Massino Murru and Alessandra Ferri, whom he had the pleasure of accompanying in the farewell show on stage Teatro alla Scala in Milan, dancing in the ballet “The Lady with Camels” by John Neumeyer.

The experience at La Scala in Milan gave him so many leading roles that he was also cast in the famous show Aida, by the great maestro Franco Zeffirelli. Fabrizio Coppo was very young, he was eighteen years old, he had just joined the Ballet Company of the Scala Theatre.

When Franco Zeffirelli entered the hall and saw him, in front of the whole company he said: “I want him!”. Thus, Fabrizio Coppo, recognized by Zeffirelli as the most beautiful ballet dancer in the entire history of the La Scala Theater in Milan, was cast in the main role, having a fulminant success in front of the specialized critics as well as the audience that adored him, being the second casting of Roberto Bolle in Zeffirelli’s famous Aida. The choreographies were taken care of by the famous Vladimir Vassiliev, a sacred dance monster, who left an indelible mark on Fabrizio’s life and contributed enormously to his professional and artistic evolution.

Tireless and always looking for stimuli, in 2007 he moved to Spain and, until 2010, he danced at the TGV Principal Ballet Theater in Valencia. Here he excels as a first dancer in solo roles such as “The Prince” in “Sleeping Beauty” by Goyo Montero, dances the third pas de deux in Jardi tancat by Nacho Durato, being a solo dancer in the ballets “Coming together” by Nacho Durato and in “Six dances” by Jiri Kylian. In addition, he has the main role in the plays “La sombres de un Valse” by Alicia Alonso and “Aman de Patrick” by Bana. In one of these productions he is noticed by Maestro Manuel Legris, the director of the State Ballet at the WienerStaatsOper – Vienna Opera, who opens the doors of beautiful Vienna to Fabrizio.

Keeping Valencia in his heart, the great principal ballet dancer FABRIZIO COPPO joins the prestigious ballet of the Vienna Opera, where he was directed by maestro Manuel Legris and danced for the greatest international choreographers until 2012. Among the most significant productions are “Who cares?” by George Balanchine, “Le souffle de l’esprit” by Jiri Bubenicek, “Le concours” by Maurice Bejart and Ken from “La bella figura” by Jiri Kylian.

In 2012, during a break between one production and another, Fabrizio Coppo took a trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he came into contact with the splendid reality of the Teatro Colón. He was immediately captivated by such a profound magic that he decided to move there and spend the most intense four years of his career, perfecting, among other things, his skills as a choreographer and teacher.

Under the artistic direction of Maximiliano Guerra, she dances solo roles in numerous productions: “Pas de cinq delle Pietre Precious”, in “Sleeping Beauty” by Karl Burnett, “Onegin” by John Cranko, “Before night fall” by Nils Christie, “Entrelazada Symphony” by Mauro Bigonzetti. In these long years he has been given many leading roles in Diamond by Eric Frederic, “Giselle” by Maximiliano Guerra, he has the leading role “Aminta” and soloist “Apolo” in “Sylvia” by Frederick Ashton, the leading role in “Cinderella” by Renato Zanella etc.

Famous Fabrizio Coppo has participated in many international tours in Tokyo, Moscow, Paris, London, Cuba, New York, Miami…etc. The desire for knowledge, to experiment and to create cannot be reduced only to the role of principal ballet dancer, so Fabrizio Coppo discovered his source of maximum expression in choreography. “Study, observe, create!” – is his motto. The first concrete approach to dance creation dates back to 2012 when, still in Vienna, Fabrizio presented his works at the event “Young Choreographers of the Vienna State Opera”. From that moment the opportunities for involvement became more and more frequent and sought after, inevitably achieving great results.

Born “with a star on his head” to become the best ballet dancer in the world and driven by the desire to compete against himself, Fabrizio Coppo carries out numerous choreographic projects in Buenos Aires, such as “Festa della Republica Italiana” (2014), Gala de dance and choreography “Lomas de Zamora” (2015). He was coaching preselection at the Prix de Lausanne Latino America and won 1st place (in 2015), then dedicated himself to the Caserta City Gala, through the Wojtyla Factory Theater Company (2016).

Today, as a choreographer, he can boast of the realization of numerous personal productions such as:

“Identity” (music by Ennio Morricone)

“Entrelazodos” (music by Franz Schubert)

“Internezzo” (music by Pietro Mascagini)

“Momentum” (music by Georg Philipp Teleman)

“Pasion de Amantes” (music by Ennio Morricone)

“Alfonsia” (music by Felix Luna & Ariel Ramirez)

“The Leucian Code” (music by Jean Philippe Rameau & Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart).

He also became artistic director and choreographer of  the “Almos” Group at the Colón Theater in Buenos Aires. By mastering expressions using deep interpretations, Fabrizio reaches the highest level of stage maturity and awareness. He enriches our lives with his charismatic personality. The expression of his body simply opens new dimensions in the understanding of the art of dance.

Over the years abroad, he was permanently called as an emeritus teacher, he held a classical-academic dance seminar at the UNA (National University of Arts) in Buenos Aires, he is a teacher and personal trainer for many international dance centers, being invited to events and masterclasses from Italy and abroad.

He is the founder, owner, master of ballet and Artistic Director and at the National Center for Art and Performance, respectively the famous OMNIARTECASERTA, Ballet Academy in Italy.

The brilliant world-class artist Fabrizio Coppo is hopelessly in love with Romania, in all the forms and details he knows about it: the beauty of the relief forms, the millennial traditions, the history of the wars between Decebalus and Trajan, the talent of the Romanian prima ballerina Alina Cojocaru, whom he admires it very much, but also the peasant cow soup and the traditional Romanian sarmales.

FABRIZIO COPPO joins the universal gallery of great values, an example of professionalism and total dedication, for young aspirants to the status of artists and ballerinas.

Andrei Ratiu – New York, USA

• Honorary member of the Fine Artists Union

Ark Principal in New York since 1997,

fashion designer & award winning fine artist

• Certified consultant in International Politics at

IBMI – International Business Management

Institute in Berlin, Germany

• Business and Human Rights Consultant

certified at USIDHR – US Institute of Diplomacy

and Human Rights in Washington DC

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